MichaelPrewitt.com

I had been using JumpLine as my web-hosting company. It had been working well, but was somewhat expensive for the plan I had ($19.95/month). Plus it had limitations that kept me from growing my website. And it did not have a good web-based spam filter (at least not a free one), so I was downloading countless spam every month—an especially atrocious problem for an email device like the iPod Touch, which does not have any built-in spam filtering.

After some research, I decided to go with HostGator. The price is much cheaper (only $4.95/month), and at this point they provide everything I need. They use SpamAssassin as their spam filter, which seems pretty standard.

When it comes to server-side spam filtering, I prefer Abaca, which is what we use at 3ABN, but very few web hosting companies seem to offer it. SpamAssassin deletes a lot of junk without even delivering it, and marks other suspicious email as spam for easy sorting. This is OK. Abaca doesn’t deliver any suspicious spam, but holds it online, and it lets you sort the spam by the likelihood that it is spam, which is very, very convenient. With Abaca, at most I have to look at 5-10 messages, and I know everything after that is junk. With SpamAssassin, it is necessary to check each message in the spam folder, which thankfully isn’t that much after the obvious spam has been auto-deleted.

Email (IMAP)

Besides the spam filtering, I wanted to simplify my email system. I had multiple email addresses I wanted to consolidate. In short, I wanted to be able to manage all email through a shared account (IMAP), so that when I read or delete a message on one computer or on my iPod Touch, it is marked as read or deleted when I check my email on another computer; and when I send a message from one computer, the sent message can be accessed on the other computers. It was pretty easy to set up on HostGator, and it has made my email communication so much better, more fluid. It is also web-based, so that I can check it from a browser if necessary, from anywhere in the world.

Reinstalled XP Pro

I have Windows XP Professional on my Dell desktop computer, which I think had been installed 4-5 years ago. It had become very sluggish, so that even opening a web browser took a lot of time. I decided it was time to reinstall. It is working much better now (snappier, as the geeky types like to say). However, I am finding that Ubuntu meets most of my needs very well (too bad you can’t run Adobe software under it), so I’ve been spending more time with that lately, which is also installed on the same machine.

iPhone 3.0

I don’t have an iPhone, but iPhone 3.0 is the name of the software that runs on the iPod Touch. I just did the upgrade, and while I don’t yet notice any dramatic differences, it does have some very nice features (copy and paste, notably; and push notifications) that I look forward to using more.

If you are an Adventist involved in some form of publishing, and want to be included in this list, please let me know.

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Print on demand and low-volume printing

“Print on demand” printers can be a good choice if you have a small run of books that you want to market yourself. The printer may also have outlets to help sell your book. However, unlike traditional printers, these printers require you to pay for the printing yourself, and most or all of the promotion is your responsibility too. On the other hand, all the profit from book sales is yours!

TEACH Services: Brushton, New York. Phone: 800-367-1844.

Traditional publishers

Traditional publishers will usually edit, design, and promote your book for you at their own expense. This usually means less cost and less work for you — but in exchange for reduced personal risk, you have less control of editing and design, and less profit per piece. However, if your book is a great success, a traditional publisher will most likely bring you more income in royalties than you would have been able to earn publishing the book yourself. Your book will most likely be of higher quality, and your book will have a greater chance of reaching outlets such as Adventist Book Centers.

Andrews University Press: “The Press publishes and distributes books, journals, papers and films that make a scholarly and/or professional contribution to their respective fields and are in harmony with the mission of Andrews University.”

Inter-American Division Publishing Association: “IADPA is the printing and publishing house of the Inter-American Division of Seventh-Day Adventists. Founded in 1984, our publishing ministry is today one of the largest publishers of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, with more than 491 titles in print and 133 new titles in process. IADPA is an international publisher, drawing authors from several countries and distributing its products around the world.”

Orion Publishing: Ukiah, California. Phone: 800-471-4284.

Pacific Press Publishing Association: Nampa, Idaho. Phone: 208-465-2500. One of the two major denominational presses.

Remnant Publications: Coldwater, Michigan.

Review and Herald Publishing Association: Hagerstown, Maryland. Phone: 301-393-4050. One of the two major denominational presses.

Web and sheet-fed presses

Web and sheet-fed presses are best suited to medium- and high-volume printing of 10,000 or more pieces. However, some of these presses may have economical solutions for low-volume printing as well.

Color Press: Collegeplace, Washington.

Light Bearers Ministry: Malo, Washington.

Pacific Press Publishing Association: Nampa, Idaho.

Remnant Publications: Coldwater, Michigan.

Review and Herald Publishing Association: Hagerstown, Maryland.

Southwestern ColorGraphics: Keene, Texas.

Web Hosting

netAserve

TAGnet

DVD, film, motion picture, and video

Adventist Media Productions: “Adventist Media Productions (AMP) is the primary electronic media production unit of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America. AMP has the responsibility of producing radio and television programming for 5 different ‘ministries’ of the SDA Church — It Is Written, Voice Of Prophecy, Breath of Life, Faith For Today and La Voz de la Esperanza.  AMP also produces programming for Adventist Communication Network and Adventist Television Network.”

It Is Written Digital Media Group: “Formerly known as Advent Digital Media, IIW Digital Media Group was founded in 1995 by evangelist Don Gray as a ministry of the North Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.  Throughout the last decade, DMG has provided evangelism graphics and illustrations for nearly every Net satellite series, and also offers these graphics on CD-ROM for use by pastors and evangelists.”

Organizations

Adventist Digital Artists Association (ADAA): If you are interested in 3D, motion picture production, or animation, check out this Adventist discussion group.

Society of Adventist Communicators: “The Society of Adventist Communicators is an organization committed to networking Seventh-day Adventists in North America who work in the communication industry as writers, editors, videographers, web designers, broadcasters and many other fields.”